Earthbound comes to the VC - end of ridiculous prices?

[MyNameIsVince]

I think the price will be down, but it will still be far more than most people would be willing to pay for a single game.

Ha, yeah I'm not expecting it to fall to $50 or anything. I'm just more curious about if it'll get back into that reasonable range. I think $200 is about the extreme limit most people have when it comes to buying sought-after games. Earthbound goes for well, well above that.

Speaking of boxed prices, of course. Not loose cart.

EDIT: ^^Haha freaky, out comments are so similar

Unfortunately, Mega Man X3 is going to occupy the same spot as Earthbound the way it's prices are going. Looks like I may have to get a Super Famicom copy to hold me over until I find an NTSC copy of MMX3 that isn't going to cost an arm and 2 legs (whenever that may be).

[Krejlooc]

I think the price will be down, but it will still be far more than most people would be willing to pay for a single game.

Ha, yeah I'm not expecting it to fall to $50 or anything. I'm just more curious about if it'll get back into that reasonable range. I think $200 is about the extreme limit most people have when it comes to buying sought-after games. Earthbound goes for well, well above that.

Speaking of boxed prices, of course. Not loose cart.

EDIT: ^^Haha freaky, out comments are so similar

Unfortunately, Mega Man X3 is going to occupy the same spot as Earthbound the way it's prices are going. Looks like I may have to get a Super Famicom copy to hold me over until I find an NTSC copy of MMX3 that isn't going to cost an arm and 2 legs (whenever that may be).

I dunno about that, given that you can buy MMX3 in a variety of ways currently. True, it didn't affect chrono trigger too much until the re-release, but all the other ports of CT were generally poor before that.

[soul_hacker]

Without having read through the thread, no simply because not enough people own a Wii U for it to make a difference.

True, but those who are willing to pay that much for earthbound are really in the target audience for those who would like a Wii U, especially with Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem and the Wind Waker remake coming out. Purists will still want the snes version and will pay the premium, but the number who will when there is a much cheaper alternative out there is small.

[AppleQueso]

The SNES spike is so head scratching, because there's not really anything that seems to have caused it. It's like starting in mid-2012 everything just suddenly skyrocketed for no real reason. Really really strange.

Not really, you have a system whose original target audience is now hitting their early thirties and have the disposable income to go back and pick up the games they used/wish to own. The general demand is causing a price hike.

This.

I don't know, I feel like if this is the case it'd be something far more gradual. We've seen prices on several games double or even triple in the span of little over a year. 2012 is where we also saw games like Little Samson rise from $150 to $500, not to mention several other popular NES games.

I find it suspect to think that the target audience for NES and SNES all hit their early thirties and discovered a ton of disposable income at the same time.

[Jmustang1968]

I imagine this will have a minimal effect on the price. This was already easily available on an emulator if one just wanted to play it. Now it is just an officially released emulation...

[AppleQueso]

I imagine this will have a minimal effect on the price. This was already easily available on an emulator if one just wanted to play it. Now it is just an officially released emulation...

Earthbound isn't really a rare game though. Are people buying it because they want to play it legally, are people buying carts solely as a collector piece, or are people buying it because they believe they can always get their money back (or more) by selling it down the road?

I think for most people it's a bit of a mix of all of those things, and depending on what's driving the prices the most, prices could be affected. I think if people on the fence about selling their carts are worried that this digital release will devalue their game, they'll dump it off. People who've just been wanting to play it legally who might've been on the fence about buying it will possibly hold off now for the VC release. The saturation could potentially slow down demand, which could result in prices cooling off a bit.

Of course, SNES collecting is also super hot right now, and that might negate whatever price drop we get.

I guess we'll see.

[TheSegaSaturnGuy]

I don't see the price going down. I am hopeful though, but when it comes down to it the number of physical copies has not increased. Its such a sought after game that I don't think anything is going to bring it down from its pedestal.

[ZeroAX]

Sometimes the crazy prices retro games go for remind me of this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania

Though personally I don't care. I'm a patient when it comes to waiting for better prices. Meanwhile I'll continue collecting for my Megadrive, Wii, PS2 and PS3. You know, systems who's games don't sell for crazy premiums.

And once the bubble is burst I'll walk right in and buy my SNES games. Cause I'm a collector/gamer not a hoarder trying to make a profit.

[ninjainspandex]

Really surprising news.

That said, the fact that they waited for WiiU's VC and skipped the Wii VC just reminds me what a-holes Ninty can be.

hmm I've had Earthbound and Mother 3 in my virtual console for years on my Wii, Homebrew ftw!

Unfortunately, Mega Man X3 is going to occupy the same spot as Earthbound the way it's prices are going. Looks like I may have to get a Super Famicom copy to hold me over until I find an NTSC copy of MMX3 that isn't going to cost an arm and 2 legs (whenever that may be).

It's amazing the price difference between the US and Jpn version, Jpn is like $10 while the american version is $100+

[BogusMeatFactory]

Yeah, but all they did was translate the menus. Officially localizing something like Mother 3 would be a much bigger undertaking.

Why don't they just license out the fan translation, or at least use their work and improve on it themselves. Probably save themselves a lot of money.